Eda-what?

This is my new favorite snack. We found some edamame in the frozen food section of the grocery store and they were super easy to prepare. Just steam them in the bag and add salt. We also found them at Costco. It comes as a box of 12 individually wrapped serving boxes that you can throw in the microwave. The ones we found at Costco are definitely a better price, but either way it is YUMMY!

Edamame are green soy beans. Eda means branches and mame means beans in Japanese. The name, edamame, came from that green soy beans are harvested while beans are attached in branches. In East Asia, the soybean has been used for over two thousand years as a major source of protein and contains all the essential amino acids. It is rich in calcium, iron, zinc, and many of the A and B vitamins. It is also a rich dietary source of isoflavones which act as Phytoestrogens that may help protect against cancer, osteoporosis and may reduce symptoms of menopause. Edamame is consumed as a snack, a vegetable dish, used in soups or processed into sweets. As a snack, the pods are lightly boiled in salted water, and then the seeds are squeezed directly from the pods into the mouth with the fingers.